The guy at best buy is telling me to buy the V30 and return it if I like the V50 that much more.

How long is the BB return period these days? Since it will likely be 60 days before they stock the VT50 you'd need a long window to do as he suggests. Sounds like he wants a sale today and is counting on you not bothering to return later.

if you do consider the VT30 now, make sure to haggle with BB. You can get it VERY competitively priced from various online places with free shipping right now, and with no tax. And Amazon would match some of those places prices and have a free return policy similar to BB. So if you are paying more than 5 x 5 x 100 keep talking.

Still curious about this. For those who indicated above (RobbyTV?) to get the ST50 65" now, where are you seeing it? Everywhere I look it still lists pre-orders and Panasonic's site says release in "May-June".

The VT50 msrp will be $3999 with no deal at first. I wouldn't expect it to go into the $2999 range either until October/November. I have the 65VT30. Great TV. If you don't care about the newest of the new but seriously I think I would wait if you have something decent to hold on to. Do not get Samsung, unless you're really trying to save money. My opinion is Samsung is crap.

The VT50 msrp will be $3999 with no deal at first. I wouldn't expect it to go into the $2999 range either until October/November. I have the 65VT30. Great TV. If you don't care about the newest of the new but seriously I think I would wait if you have something decent to hold on to. Do not get Samsung, unless you're really trying to save money. My opinion is Samsung is crap.

Panasonic lowered the expected MSRP on the VT50 a while ago to $3,699.

And there will be places that discount it almost immediately, not to current VT30 prices but still off of that MSRP. There are several places taking pre-orders now for substantially below MSRP. Just Google it.

What is the expected release date of this model? Some people are saying June/July and others think late March/April.

Interesting, the VT50 manual just became available for download, and that usually happens a week or two before the TV starts to ship. I wonder if this means the VT50 will ship sooner rather than later?

Excited about this very possibly being the best plasma of 2012. Already put down payment on the tv from Abt. He spoke to his panasonic rep, and they confirmed a May 20th release date.
This was after being upset that both panasonic and the retailer said late March to early April. This tv will be hot

DrRx that is what I was thinking too. Why would Bestbuy.ca have it on their site if it was still 1.5 to 2 months away yet? I ordered one just in case they have some kind of inside track on these things. I could price match after the fact.

DrRx that is what I was thinking too. Why would Bestbuy.ca have it on their site if it was still 1.5 to 2 months away yet? I ordered one just in case they have some kind of inside track on these things. I could price match after the fact.

What sort of delivery date did Best Buy give you? And how long do we have to price match b/c the Canadian MSRP which Best Buy is charging is some $800 more than the US one (with the $CDN at parity or better, this shouldn't be the case )??

I am on the phone with them now to see if they are actually available. He says the warehouse shows them on order but no stock on them. He is sending an ETA request to Panasonic to see if they can get a ballpark time frame. They probably just jumped the gun or something it seems.

There is no difference in HDMI cables. If you can see the picture without visible dropouts or sparklies, the cable is working at 100%. No other cable will display a better version of that picture. You're simply wrong if you think there is a better digital cable than one that is already working. (Oh, and plasma didn't die because of logistics problems, nor does OLED ship in big boxes because it comes from Korea.)

In Canada they may be no clue but did note they are speaking of canada. All I know is I'm getting sick of waiting for the vt to come I may just bite the bullet and go for the Sammy. I don't understand how Panasonic could let there closest competition release their flagship months ahead of there's there is potential for huge loss there.

I am on the phone with them now to see if they are actually available. He says the warehouse shows them on order but no stock on them. He is sending an ETA request to Panasonic to see if they can get a ballpark time frame. They probably just jumped the gun or something it seems.